Social Media

Triscuit Plants Social Network for Home Farmers

Forget FarmVille. Cracker brand Triscuit is attempting to build a social network around actual farming.

Launched quietly earlier this year, homefarming.com claims about 14,000 members. The site features information about recipes related to farming, as well as information on the “home farming movement,” which will be celebrated on April 12 a.k.a. Home Farming Day.

What does a box of crackers have to do with farming, you ask? According to a rep for Kraft, Triscuit has sought over the past year to align itself with the "real food" concept. “The effort taps into the trend of people getting back to basics in a tough economic environment and wanting to grow their own food,” the rep says, adding that “it’s a perfect fit for Triscuit.”

Like some other brands, most notably Haagen Dazs’s Five and Frito-Lay’s Lay’s potato chips, Triscuit has recently put a spotlight on the fact that it “starts” from a few basic ingredients — wheat, soybean oil and salt. The jump from simple ingredients to home farming was a fairly logical one. Last year, the brand created 4 million “home farming" Triscuit boxes with plantable herb seed cards. The brand plans to double that number this year.

Triscuit's goal is a daunting one; creating a social network from scratch, rather than setting one up on Facebook, has proven to be an elusive goal for most marketers. Though weight-loss brands have claimed some success doing so, Walmart, among others, has failed to get user levels into the seven-digit range.

What's Hot

More in Social Media

What's New

What's Rising

What's Hot

Mashable
is a leading source for news, information and resources for the Connected Generation. Mashable reports on the importance of digital innovation and how it empowers and inspires people around the world. Mashable's record 42 million unique visitors worldwide and 21 million social media followers are one of the most influential and engaged online communities. Founded in 2005, Mashable is headquartered in New York City with an office in San Francisco.